Mentor of ARISIA

Date, Time and Place: What with one thing and another, this meeting was first postponed, then rescheduled, then canceled.

Date, Time and Place: This General Meeting of the Membership was called to order at 4:12 PM on Sunday, 14 January 2001 in one of the 4^th Floor Function Rooms of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Towers and Castle during the Arisia '01 Convention.

In Attendance: Traciy Fogarty, Buzz Harris, Walter Kahn, Craig McDonough, Elka Tovah Menkes, Skip Morris, Tom Murphy, Brendan Quinn, Noel Rosenberg, Nicholas Shectman, Rachel Silber, Rachel Silverman, and Pat Vandenberg.

Attending guests were Woody Bernardi, Jennifer Koerber, Derek Lichter, Claudia Mastroianni, Michelle McGuire, Matthew F. Ringel, and Jude Shabry.

• Proxies

No proxies were presented at the meeting.

• Minutes of the Previous Meeting

No corrections to the Minutes of Previous Meetings were made.

• President's Report (Brendan Quinn)

The President, being awfully fried with the con and all, mentions that he'll make a complete report at a later time. Convention Budget changes were considered and approved where necessary. By the way, we had a con and it's almost over now.

• EBoard Report (Brendan Quinn)

The EBoard met several times and talked about several things. I'll say more when I'm not quite so fried.

• Vice President's Report (Nicholas Shectman)

No Report.

• Grant Committee (Nicholas Shectman)

The Harvard Radcliffe Science Fiction Association has requested a grant for their Convention, Vericon, as published in MENTOR of ARISIA, Volume 13, Issue 102 (November 2000). The Grant Committee passes a positive recommendation to the Membership. Therefore,

MOVED to grant HRSFA $800 as per the published grant application.

Motion CARRIES.

• Treasurer's Report (Skip Morris)

The Convention appears to have made a lot of profit, again.

• Budget Committee Report (Skip Morris)

No Report

• Clerk's Report (Tom Murphy)

The Clerk ran through his usual spiel about signing in; that reports and motions should be submitted in writing or suffer the possibility of transcription errors; that major items of new business be presented to the EBoard for consideration before presentation to the Membership; and that dues for joining the Corporation were $16 at this meeting and $14 thereafter.

• Convention Chair '01 (Elka Tovah Menkes)

We had a Con, it is good, I got engaged.

• Convention Treasurer '01 (Woody Bernardi)

Money. It's green. It's good.

• Convention Chair '02 (Noel Rosenberg)

We're gonna have a Convention, featuring Katherine Kurtz, Tristian Alexander and Eugene Heller. I have a candidate in mind for my Convention Treasurer. The Con will be good.

• Gaming Convention Exploratory Committee

(Buzz Harris)

We've begun to explore Hotels; there are a lot that want the Con. We're looking for small quarters and trying to find dates that don't conflict with established events. We're lining up staff in a fashion that doesn't drain or burn out staff from Arisia. Preliminary name of the Gaming Convention is "TriPlanetary," subject to review. First date is expected to be in Summer of '02 or so.

President takes a moment to call for a "sense of the room," is the idea of ARISIA Inc. throwing a second, gaming oriented relax-a-con style Con a good idea, or bad? The question was initially met with silence, but then some opinions were voiced (fear of staff burnout). Someone wonders whether or not having a gaming specific Con will eliminate gaming at Arisia (answer, no). Skip notes that max warm body count at this con is not expected to exceed 400. Buzz thanks all for thoughts, and reiterates that this is supposed to be an informal, relax-a-con, and that he is taking pains not to burn out Arisia Staff (his own staff are another story -- ed.). He will take all comments under advisement, and thanks the assembled for their contributions and suggestions.

• Corporate Inventory Control (Carsten Turner)

CIC will receive stuff from Logistics. Come help us load out the Con! No new storage facility lined up yet.

Skip says Thanks for new Art Show Pipe Carts, spontaneous applause for Stan erupts.

• Corporate Systems Administrator (Cris Shuldiner)

Not Present / No Report.

• Long Range Planning Committee

(Brendan Quinn, Chair)

We have not met, we have no report, and interested volunteers should speak to the Committee Chair, Brendan Quinn.

• Corporate Sales (Nicholas Shectman)

We sold stuff -- a dozen books (this could be a handwriting error on my part -- ed.) of Wojtek Suidumak's; 180 Sunday Sundae Tickets; 60 T-Shirts with orders for more; sold some other stuff, like old T-Shirts and sweats. No hard numbers, but at least 100 '02 memberships.

• Survey Committee (Ben Levy)

No Report.

• Old Business

All old business was left on the table owing to the fact that everyone was pretty much wiped from having a Con.

• New Business

MOVED to discharge the only item pending on the Long Range Planning Committee's Table, as it's been there for about a year and nothing has been done with it.

Motion TABLED.

MOVED to set the date and time of the next Corporate Meeting to 25 February 2001 at 4:00 PM, at a place To Be Announced.

Motion CARRIES.

• Announcements

In case you missed it, Elka got Engaged. Congratulations, Elka.

The Arisia '01 Debrief will be held Sunday, 21 January 2001 at 2:00 PM at MIT Building 66.

The Debrief got postponed to SuperBowl Sunday due to Snow.

The Arisia Grant Committee Chair submitted this note via email to the Corporate Mailing List:

The Arisia grant committee met tonight (on 06 February 2001 -- ed.). We voted on the following Grant Application.

Recommended: to grant $1000 to the Vassar Non-Human Student Organization (NSO) for general use in putting on No Such Convention (NonCon) on March 2-4, 2001; to purchase 10 memberships in NonCon, which may be used by any corporate member who attends the convention; and to lend Arisia's FRS radios to the NSO for their use during the convention.

Respectfully submitted,

Nicholas Shectman

Chair, Arisia Grant Committee.

The text of this Grant Application, also sent to the Corporate EMail List, is included in its entirety at the end of this newsletter.

On another note, I've been lame this month; what with moving and all, I'm not getting MENTOR out in the time prescribed by the ByLaws. Hopefully, everyone has gotten their email and knows about the meeting and the grant request inside the 12 day notice requirement. Now that life is calming down a bit, I'll be better able to hold to my deadlines. On this note, I'd like to take full

responsibility for not getting the information out in a timely fashion, and to beg the Membership's indulgence with regard to the lack of US Postal Mail Notification within twelve days of the meeting for both the meeting itself and the grant recommendation to be presented to the Membership. We would still like to consider this grant at the 25 February meeting; if there is no objection from the Membership. If there is objection, I ask that you direct the rebuke directly to me, and not penalize the Grant Applicant for my lameness in not getting notice of the Grant Committee's recommendation out to the Membership. We look forward to seeing you all at the Meeting on Sunday, 25 February 2001. -- Merv, Corporate Clerk.

Subscription to Mentor of ARISIA is included with Corporate Membership to ARISIA, Incorporated. Membership runs from September 1st to August 31st and costs $24.00. Dues are pro-rated on a monthly basis for members joining during the year.

Friday through Sunday, 16-18 February 2001

Sheraton Framingham, Framingham MA

Sunday, 25 February 2001, 4:00 PM

The Usual Room of MIT's Building 66.

Friday through Sunday, 23-25 March 2001

The Rye Town Hilton, Rye Brook NY

Friday through Sunday, 30 March – 01 April 2001

SUNY – Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Friday through Sunday, 25-28 May 2001

Baltimore Omni Inner Harbor Hotel, Baltimore MD

Applicant Name: Non-Human Students’ Organization of Vassar College

Address: Box 3817, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604 – 3817

First Minister: Ethan Tavan

The No Such Convention Contact: Kate Secor

Mailing Address: Box 1565, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604-1565

Telephone: (845) 451 – 3995

Mission Statement:

Financial Summary:

Roll Over from Academic Year 1999 – 2000 (from donations): $218.53

Funding for Academic Year 2000 – 2001: $900

Expenditures in the Academic Year 2000 – 2001 (pre-Convention expenses): $264.23

Project Information:

Project: The No Such Convention (NonCon)

Dates: March 2 – 4, 2001

Location: Vassar College and the Best Western Inn and Convention Center, Poughkeepsie

Sponsored By: The Non-Human Students’ Organization of Vassar College

NonCon is the NSO’s first attempt to really bring together all of the things that we do together in one large event. Last year, we sponsored a very small set of panels and talks, and brought in some authors (Esther Friesner, Vassar Grad, and Paul Levinson). This inspired the current Powers That Be (the exec board of the NSO) to attempt to expand and improve upon this event for this year, turning it into a real con in the process. Every sector of the NSO is represented here, as best we could. We have science fiction and fantasy authors, gaming of both types (RPGs and traditional games), and anime. We are attempting to get both a filk sing and a LARP or two going. Our goal with the convention is to explore the many facets of science fiction and fantasy, both in expressive modes and in fandom. Oh, and to enjoy ourselves and get to meet new people who share our bizarre taste in what to do with our weekends, of course.

Participation:

We expect an attendance of about 125 people from both on and off campus, along with a core group of about 6 people and their assorted flunkies. These include NSO members and Powers, and their associated friends, roommates and enemies.

Hosting Fund: $1500

Pre-Registered Non-Students (30 @ $10): $300

Pre-Registered Volunteers (10 @ $5): $50

At the Door Students (25 @ $5): $125

At the Door Non-Students (15 @ $15): $225

At the Door Volunteers (10 @ $10): $100

In addition to students registered for real money, we also have a class of students who have registered paying with their meal-plan points. Our current plan is to use those points with the cafeteria catering service, and use that food in the con suite, and to feed guests, as well as to sell to people in the far-flung buildings, such as the anime events. This accounts for the discrepancy in attendance numbers, as well as the lack of any expenditure for food for the con suite, although guest food is still included in our expenditures, as we do not want to feed them cafeteria food for three days straight.

Arisia Grant Requested: $1000

Travel Expenses: $500 for each of 2 round trip tickets from various areas of the West Coast. $50 for each of 5 local speakers for gas, train tickets, or other local transportation. $100 total for 2 transports to and from the airport. (Although public transportation is available for somewhat less than this figure, we are assuming a shared car driven by the Con Chair.)

Housing: $640 for 4 rooms for 2 nights at the local Best Western. We are expecting that some guests will share rooms in order to get this cost this low. (Each room is $80 including tax.)

Food: $720 for 3 days for 8 guests at $30 a day.

Hotel Conference Rooms: $400 (2 rooms at $100 each for 2 nights, one for the LARP and one for the Filk.)

Cleaning Supplies: $30 (This is a required fee by the school for use of the facilities.)

Other Supplies: $200 (This includes things like paper for signs, tape, markers, etc… We are planning to buy these from Sam’s Club.)

Media Resources Fee: $100 (We need to rent a number of TVs and power strips from them in order to power the video gaming room.)

Gas: $150 (We know that this sounds like a very large estimate for gas, but we are planning to rent a shuttle to move people back and forth from the hotel, as well as helping the gofers with their gas expenditures.)